Document

Title

Current status and future needs of the BehavePlus Fire Modeling System
Document Type: Journal Article
Author(s): Patricia L. Andrews
Publication Year: 2014

Cataloging Information

Keyword(s):
  • BEHAVE
  • BehavePlus
  • crown fire
  • crown scorch
  • fire control
  • fire injury
  • fire management
  • fire size
  • fire suppression
  • firebrands
  • flame length
  • forest management
  • fuel moisture
  • lightning caused fires
  • mortality
  • spotting distance
  • surface fire
  • wildfires
  • wind
Topic(s):
Region(s):
Partner Site(s):
Record Maintained By:
FRAMES Staff; https://www.frames.gov/contact
TTRS Staff; https://talltimbers.org/contact-us
Record Last Modified: June 1, 2018
FRAMES Record Number: 16531
Tall Timbers Record Number: 29916
TTRS Location Status: In-file
TTRS Call Number: Journals - I
TTRS Abstract Status: Okay, Fair use, Reproduced by permission

This bibliographic record was either created or modified by the Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy and is provided without charge to promote research and education in Fire Ecology. The E.V. Komarek Fire Ecology Database is the intellectual property of the Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy.

Description

The BehavePlus Fire Modeling System is among the most widely used systems for wildland fire prediction. It is designed for use in a range of tasks including wildfire behaviour prediction, prescribed fire planning, fire investigation, fuel hazard assessment, fire model understanding, communication and research. BehavePlus is based on mathematical models for fire behaviour, fire effects and fire environment. It is a point system for which conditions are constant for each calculation, but is designed to encourage examination of the effect of a range of conditions through tables and graphs. BehavePlus is successor to BEHAVE, which was developed in 1977 and became available for field application in 1984. It was updated to BehavePlus in 2002. Updates through version 5 have added features and modelling capabilities. It is becoming increasingly difficult to expand the system. A redesign will address the need for consolidation with other systems and make it easier to incorporate new research results. This paper describes the development history and application of BehavePlus. The design, features and modelling foundation of the current system are described. Considerations for the next generation are presented.

Online Link(s):
Link to this document
Citation:
Andrews, Patricia L. 2014 (published online 2013). Current status and future needs of the BehavePlus Fire Modeling System. International Journal of Wildland Fire 23(1):21-33.